Rubles for gas switch will take time: Kremlin

By Murat Temizer

ANKARA (AA) - Payments and gas shipments are processes that stretches over time and Russia won't immediately enforce its demand to receive payments in rubles for natural gas, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday.

Peskov said that there were some positive results from the Russia-Ukraine talks held in Istanbul on Tuesday.

"It is positive that Ukraine has at least formulated its proposals concretely and started to put them on paper. So far we have not been able to do this. This is a positive element," he said.

Noting that he could not make a very promising comment about the outcome of the negotiations, Peskov said, "So far, we cannot say that there is a very promising, turning point, there is still a lot of work to be done."

"Payments and gas shipments are a time-consuming process. The deadline set by Putin for the determination of the ruble payment system expires on March 31. This does not mean that shipments will be made tomorrow and payment will be made in rubles tomorrow evening," he responded to a question about the process of Russia's transition to paying in rubles for natural gas exports to Western countries.

Pointing out that Russia may switch to the ruble payment system for different products in exports, Peskov said, "Expanding the use of national currencies is an area that our government is also working on. It's in our interests and our partners' interests."

Peskov said that the US dollar has lost prestige as a reserve currency.